I see a decision. In fact, I see three decisions:
1 – Eat the lot and sod it…blowing it for the weekend, as I’ve ‘failed’ anyway.
2 – Use ‘flexible’ syns, eat the lot and get back on track straight away.
2 – Eat two or three small bars and remain within my syn limit.

You have a decision and a choice to make!

What I actually did was have one bar with my fruit and yogurt tonight…I think I am becoming a positive freak of nature – the old me wouldn’t have thought twice about working my way through that lot, and I would have been buried in Green & Blacks wrappers by now!

Last night I watched a programme about diets. They don’t work apparently. If I hear this statement one more time, I will scream – a diet is simply what you eat…it is a way of life. There is no ‘work’ or ‘don’t work’ when it comes to diets…they all work in some way, shape or form. And if you eat food in any form, you are on a diet!

The opening few minutes of the show contained the following statement, “Lisa has been on and off diets for the past two decades.” Can you spot the glaringly obvious error in those words? Go on, have a think about it!

On and off diets…on…and off…off…if I had to hazard a guess, therein lies the problem with Lisa’s weight – the ‘off’ bit. If you lose weight eating in a certain way, what makes you think that coming off it is not going to create an adverse reaction…i.e. you put all of that hard earned weight loss right back on again, with a bit extra for luck.

This for me is why I have a real issue with fad diets. Fad diets don’t work, but sustainable healthy eating plans do – sustainable for life…you can imagine yourself eating this way for the rest of your life.

If you do not want to consume weight loss milkshakes until your dying day, then don’t start consuming them. If you do not want to juice for the rest of your life, then put the fecking juicer away! If you do not want to fast on two days a week for the rest of your life, then eat the calories you need to fuel your body sufficiently every day of the week. If you don’t want to eat calorie controlled meal packs for the rest of your life, then don’t start eating them. If you don’t want to be pooing your pants for life, then don’t start taking weight loss pills. If you don’t want vitamin injections and digestion issues for life, then don’t have weight loss surgery…I think you get the picture.

Each time I joined Slimming World, I failed. I failed because I went back to my old eating habits. Slimming World works and it did not fail me…it is not a fad diet…it is a lifestyle change – and this crucial lifestyle change was the element that I conveniently chose to ignore. Why on earth I thought that going back to my old habits was a good idea, I will never know. Perhaps I was just not ready to face the truth…the truth that there are no quick fixes. And the truth that my mind needed a bit of work…and that my mouth needed less work!

I also watched a programme this week which focussed on a high fat versus high sugar diet. It was surprising to me to find that the diet high in fat actually caused more issues in terms of blood sugar, as the fat hinders the production of insulin. When I thought about it, it kind of made sense though – although one case does not mean that something is a scientific fact – as my diet was very high in fat. Sugar was there in terms of refined and processed carbs, but it wasn’t as prevalent as fat. And I ended up with diabetes. Now, given that I was over 43st, what did I expect? I am not attributing my diabetes purely to a high fat diet…it was a high fat body content that likely did it! It was just interesting to discover, as the general consensus is that sugar causes diabetes.

And then the point was made about the lack of natural foods which contain a high level of fat and sugar…this is a manufactured combination. The lab rats used in trials became addicted to the high fat / high sugar content in foods such as cheesecake. They ignored all natural food and chose this combo – it ‘flicked’ on the pleasure sensor in the brain apparently…similar to the area affected by drugs such as heroin. No other food type did this. They did not become addicted to fat alone, nor sugar alone…it was this processed, manufactured combo.

I won’t harp on too much, as my dog was hassling me whilst I was watching it and so my concentration was not at it’s best – I don’t want to misquote the show. But you can catch it on BBC iPlayer if you want to watch it…it was ‘Horizon: Sugar v Fat’ I think!

For me though, the ultimate message was that a diet high in natural foods and not processed foods was far better for you. There were no quick fixes, no sexy solutions, no miracle cures…good old fashioned healthy eating wins time after time. This message is one that is repeated on every single weight loss documentary that I watch…so why do so many of us ignore this advice and still opt for the crazy and weird solutions – that aren’t really solutions at all?

So I have made a decision. That decision is to choose a way of eating that I can see myself being able to manage for life. I don’t really need to make a change though, as I have already found it! Every time I watch a weight loss or diet industry programme, I thank my lucky stars that I stuck with Slimming World – and that my consultant stuck with me.

Right then, the usuals…

Today has been good. A rather demanding gym session left me a bit achy – I am using a different technique with my weight lifting and it is leaving me feeling nicely worked out. I then went to see the horses, popped to the shops and then came home and created a food baby – I ate a really big lunch which left me looking like a pregnant lady! I met with a lovely lady tonight for a mammoth coaching session and so thought that I would fuel myself nicely in preparation for that…yet I chose a curry and had to apologise in advance in case garlic-breath was in evidence! She was lovely, and reassured me that my curry breath was not noticeable. And that’s been my day really…the last Silent Witness of the series is on, so that will be watched – or has been watched by now! Tomorrow I am off to a posh Pilates studio…I am a bit nervous, and am currently trying to drag Mr WLB there with me.